Increasingly, motor vehicles such as trucks, cars, construction vehicles and agricultural vehicles are using distributed networks of digital electronic controllers to monitor and control the operation of the vehicle. One of the most common networks used are Controller Area Network (CAN) bus networks defined by the SAE J1939 standard. These networks have gradually replaced the large all-analog wire looms that extended through vehicles in the past.
These networks have eliminated some of the vehicle wiring, but other wiring, particularly the power lines necessary to carry power to individual devices throughout the vehicle are still commonly used.
What is needed is a power module for providing power to electrical components throughout the vehicle. What is also needed is a power module that is capable of being automatically configured for use in a variety of locations in a vehicle just as a traditional fuse is configured to be used in a variety of different circuits in a vehicle.
It is an object of this invention to provide such an electronic power module. It is also an object of this invention to provide a vehicle network configured to use such an electronic power module.